Roberto Mancini unfazed by prospect of failure

Roberto Mancini put a brave face on Manchester City’s Champions League predicament last night, reassuring his players that “our life doesn’t finish” if they suffer the ignominy of dropping into the Europa League.

City will miss out on the Champions League knockout stages and move instead into the Europa League round of 32 unless they can beat Bayern Munich at the Etihad Stadium on December 7, while Napoli must fail to overcome Villarreal in Spain.

That would represent a bitter blow to City — and, significantly, it would come at a high financial cost, with the club missing out on up to £20 million in additional Champions League revenue — but Mancini, while rating their chances no higher than 30 per cent, maintained that reverting to the…